Tyler Fire Department Improves EMS Capabilities

TYLER – The Tyler Fire Department recently expanded its Emergency Medical Services capabilities to improve treatment for Tyler residents. Since January, the department has implemented many changes to their EMS bags and staff training. This includes daily inventory checks, new equipment added to bags and Epinephrine distribution training and certification. Newly named Assistant Fire Chief Michael Frost says the system was put in place to ensure that there are no delays in the field due to searching for lifesaving equipment. He says, by having a universal set up for the EMS bags, firefighters can easily transfer from station to station without a learning curve of finding lifesaving equipment while on a call.

According to a news release from the city, in February, many items were added to each bag, including:
*Safety glasses for all responders in the EMS kits to ensure eye protection from hazardous materials during the treatment and care of patients.
*New trauma shears were added to Automated External Defibrillator (AED), trauma, EMS and active shooter bags to keep medical providers from having to search between bags to remove clothing and obstacles quickly. This improvement will speed up patient care.
*Glucometers were added to give firefighters the ability to obtain a blood sugar reading on diabetic persons. This enhances the ability to provide proper care to bring up or lower blood sugar levels while an ambulance is in route.
*New Littman stethoscopes were added as a much needed tool, being of higher quality, to assess patient needs. These stethoscopes readily pick up fainter assessment sounds in noisier environments.

This month, all were trained and certified in the administration of Epinephrine shots. Previously, each bag was equipped with an epi-pen. However, due to expiration dates on epi-pens, if they were not used and expired. A very high replacement cost of around $500 per pen would have hit the department’s budget. By training firefighters on how to administer Epinephrine, replacement costs will be lowered and better care in the field will be obtained. With epi-pens, there is only one dose. This means if a patient needed a higher dosage, they would have to wait until an ambulance arrived.